The term “Coolie” originates in the Tamil word kuli, which means wages or hire. Back in the late sixteenth century, Portuguese captains and merchants on the Coromandel Coast in India used the term to describe men who carried loads at the docks (Bahadur xx; Tinker 42). Over time, it referred to people hired for menial tasks. Later, in the nineteenth century, “coolie” was used to describe Asian laborers, especially those from China and India, who worked under indenture contracts (Varma 8; Yun xix).